Lemon Rice Soup.

Mmmm. Soup!
I don't know if it's due to the coldness outside or a desire for comforting home cooked food, but I woke up this morning remembering a delicious bowl of soup that my boyfriend Ben's grandma made for us back in March of this year. I loved it so much she provided me with a copy of the recipe (from a magazine of some type!). As a naturally organized person, I am actually perplexed as to where it is! I will blame its disappearance on moving cities in the late spring/early summer... But alas, it was I who misplaced it... However, I am confident that it will eventually turn up, most likely in the summer time when I don't want soup! ha!

So without having the recipe, I took to the good ol' internet to find a similar recipe. I searched for "lemon rice soups" and found numerous recipes for "Greek Lemon Rice" soup (aka Avgolemono). I quickly learned that this soup contains egg and that the rice soup I had been dreaming of from last March also would have contained egg. I have never used egg in a soup before and feel it is somewhat 'odd' to do so! I have however tried many yummy soups that contained egg, but I just have never personally felt compelled to try it for myself... until now!

Traditional Avgolemono consists of a few basic ingredients: chicken broth, rice (or orzo) and eggs. First, I read a recipe that called to separate the eggs. Uhh, that's a pain... no thanks. Next. I read a recipe that called for EIGHT eggs. No thanks, Next! I read a soup recipe that even included a cream of chicken soup can! Whaaat! Soup in soup? Nooooo Thank you! NEXT! I finally came across a recipe I was fond of and was delighted to discover that I had all the other ingredients! This is from TLC's Cooking website. I kinda followed it, of course... Here it is. My version follows.

TLC's Greek Lemon Soup

2	tablespoons butter
1/3	cup minced green onions with tops
6	cups canned chicken broth
2/3	cup uncooked long grain white rice
4	eggs
Juice of 1 fresh lemon, or to taste
1/8	teaspoon white pepper (optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add green onions. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until green onions are tender.
2. Stir in chicken broth and rice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
3. Beat eggs in medium bowl with wire whisk until well beaten. Add lemon juice and 1/2 cup broth mixture to bowl. Gradually return egg mixture to broth mixture in saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until broth mixture thickens enough to lightly coat spoon. Do not boil.
4. Stir in pepper, if desired. Garnish with fresh mint and lemon peel, if desired.
5. YIELD Makes 6 to 8 servings.
   

Recipe Source: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/greek-lemon-and-rice-soup-recipe.htm

Homemade lemon rice soup.

So, as a tribute to the lovely M.Mathewson whose recipe I misplaced, here is:

My own Delicious Lemon Rice Soup!
6 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 cup white rice
The last few squeezes of lemon juice I had
4 eggs
1/2 a carrot
1/4 of an onion
Butter
Parsley
Lemon Basil
Salt & Pepper to taste


Since I didn't have chicken broth like the recipe called for, I needed to make my own with bouillon cubes, but I didn't want to have to make the broth and THEN make the rice, I wanted to make it all at the same time.... So....

• Pour 6 cups water into a large pot and bring to a boil.
• Once water boils add bouillon cubes and rice.
• Allow to boil for 1-2 mins.
• Reduce to low heat, cover with a lid. Cook for approx. 30 mins

This is when I discovered that the TLC recipe was a wee bit bland. So I decided to add some carrot for some colour and flavour! I was going to add more ingredients but decided I better try to stick to the recipe as close as possible the first time so that the Greek Gods  don't become upset with me! ha!

• About 5 minutes before the rice is done, melt butter in a small cookpan.
• Add chopped onion and carrot. Allow to cook for 5 mins.
• As the onion and carrot are being cooked, crack eggs into a bowl and mix well. Add lemon juice.
• Pour half of the broth/rice into the egg bowl. If you're like me, you may want to use a measuring cup to take approx. half the ingredients out vs. pour them out ;)
• Mix eggs and broth/rice mixture. 
• Begin to add a bit of this mixture back into the cooking pot where the rest of the broth/rice is. Stir in well.
• Add cooked carrot and onion into the soup pot.
• Add more egg and broth/rice mixture into the soup pot. Stir in well. Keep doing this until all contents are back in the soup pot.
• Add parsley and lemon basil if you have it. Otherwise add some spices you like, perhaps some garlic powder or salt?
• And voila, done! Let me tell you, it tastes divine!!!

TIPS/SUGGESTIONS:

• Flavour would be greatly enhanced with the use of real chicken.

Homemade lemon rice soup. Simply Amazing!